


How the Day Sounds

by geneeste



Series: Love & Communication [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Married!Verse, Pay No Attention to the Woman Behind the Curtain, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wedding, repost, season 4 divergent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-12
Updated: 2016-10-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:53:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21830023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geneeste/pseuds/geneeste
Summary: There’s a moment when Oliver genuinely wonders if he’s dreaming. Felicity is in front of him, looking healthy and so happy, and she’s about to marry him.
Relationships: John Diggle & Felicity Smoak, John Diggle & Oliver Queen, Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Series: Love & Communication [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/583003
Kudos: 22





	How the Day Sounds

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! You might notice that this is not a new fic. I’ve been doing some archiving of old fic and realized that I didn’t love how bloated the collection “So It Goes” had gotten; it’s not very reader-friendly, particularly to readers who like to use tagging as a way to filter out stuff they don’t want to read. So I’m pulling out the longer works and publishing them as stand-alone fics. If you’re a subscriber and getting notifications about these, sorry about that! It’s not my intention to spam you, and I backdated these works to help distinguish them from new ones. Thanks for your patience, and happy reading!
> 
> ——
> 
> What a sappy, schmoopy thing I've written. Not at all sorry. XD
> 
> So this is obviously AU. Just assume that Oliver told Felicity immediately about William like a mature adult about to marry someone does, thus no break ups ever happened.

Oliver waits at the chuppah, trying to contain his own excitement and nervousness.

He wants to be here - has wanted to be here so badly, for what feels like forever - but he’s usually not that great with crowds, even small ones like this one. It’s made up of friends and family, but there’s still a part of him that’s insecure about showing himself in front of them. He can pretend for a while, manage short bursts of charisma and confidence, but he does so much better when Felicity is beside him.

Which is just another reason why he’s impatient to get this ceremony started. They’ve waited long enough.

He grins at Laurel and Thea as they enter. They both look lovely, but Thea especially looks giddy as they take their place to the right of the chuppa. Oliver tilts his head at her in question, but she just winks at him and smiles wider.

It won’t be long now, and Oliver looks down at the end of the aisle, willing Felicity to appear. They don’t have many guests, and Felicity didn’t want to be pushed down the aisle or risk perspiring in her dress by pushing herself too far, so they kept the aisle short. Oliver had made his appreciation of that idea plain; a shorter aisle meant less space between them, less time before he could make her his wife.

She’d rolled her eyes at that during their planning session, saying he was sappy, but she’d kissed him anyway.

He’s smiling slightly over the memory when the murmur of the crowd dies down, and when he looks up and sees Felicity, everything else falls away.

Because there she is, held between Donna and a grinning Diggle, standing at the entrance of the small room they’d booked. She’s _standing_ , gripping her mother and Dig’s hands, looking determined and incredibly beautiful in her lacy cream dress.

The shock at the sight runs through him, and fills his chest with warmth and his eyes with tears.

There’s a moment when Oliver genuinely wonders if he’s dreaming. Felicity is in front of him, looking healthy and so happy, and she’s about to marry him. There’s a moment when his mind supplies all the reasons why this can’t be true, can’t be happening, all the ways in which it might not be happening. She could be dead, or he could have screwed up and lost her, and they wouldn’t have made it to this amazing moment where he’s about to get everything he wants.

He feels the negativity and pain and sadness for that one moment, and then he lets it pass. It’s replaced with love, and optimism, and so much gratitude he’s at risk of breaking down right there under the chuppah before they’ve even gotten started.

It’s a good thing he’s supposed to go down and meet her, because he wouldn’t have been able to hold himself still any longer even if he wasn’t. He goes toward her on legs that suddenly don’t seem that steady, and when he gets to her he steps as close to her as he can, taking her hands in his.

“Hi,” she says, smiling up at him tremulously. Everything about her is stunning - her gleaming hair, her shining eyes, and just the fact that she’s doing what she’s doing.

He shakes his head, shifts on his feet, because he doesn’t have words for how much he loves her right now and he’s trying to keep himself together. “Hi.”

She squeezes his hands. “Sorry for keeping this from you, but I wanted to surprise you,” she says keeping her voice low so only their little group could hear it. “Did it work?’

He laughs through tears. “Yes, it worked,” he manages, “I’m surprised.”

She laughs with him for a second, letting go of one of his hands carefully, minding her balance, and reaches up to wipe his cheeks. He turns his head and kisses her hand and then, because he can’t quite stop himself, leans down and kisses her temple.

“Oh, that’s going to have to wait,” Donna says lightly, not bothering to hide her own tears. “You two have to go get married now.”

Oliver takes a deep breath, grins, and then turns to Diggle.

Dig himself is looking suspiciously bright-eyed, but his voice is steady as he hands Felicity off to Oliver. “You’ve got this, man.”

Oliver nods gratefully back at him. “I do.”

He puts his right arm around Felicity’s back to support her, and uses his left hand to hold hers, and they start together slowly up the aisle. Oliver takes short steps, careful of dress and pace.

They don’t stumble once.

When they stand under the chuppah, the rabbi waits patiently while Diggle brings out white chairs for him and Felicity, and then he and Donna take their places beside the chuppah.

He’s thankful for the chairs, as he can feel her start to shake with fatigue. He helps her lower herself gently into her chair, then turns to find that his is just a little farther away than he’s comfortable with, and drags it over to face her. There’s a sharp whining noise as the feet drag over the floor, drawing chuckles from their audience, but Oliver barely registers it.

His eyes are for Felicity, who is beaming at him as he settles. He reaches over and takes both of her hands in his, which serves as the rabbi’s cue.

“Are you ready to begin?” she asks.

Felicity gives him a quick little nod, smiling brightly, and it transports him back to their first beginning, in an alleyway years ago in the sunshine.

The answer’s obvious: they're ready to begin anything, together.

Not taking his eyes off Felicity, Oliver replies for them both. “Ready.”


End file.
